CHAPTER THREE
The following day, Jo found herself pacing
back and forth across the small living room of the house, soaking up
information as fast as her phone could deliver it to her. None of it looked
helpful at all. Finally she pocketed the phone and sat still just for a moment.
She needed to clear her head.
Her Gran was out; she’d seen him off to visit
with friends earlier in the morning. She wouldn’t have to pick him up until
late afternoon, so she had plenty of time to go somewhere, preferably somewhere
she could be more productive.
The rain was falling again, gentle this time,
and for a wonder, it held hardly a trace of acid. It streamed all but silently
down the cab windows as she crossed the city. Her destination this time was
farther than the gym; she leaned her head against the glass and did her best to
relax and recapture some of the calm she’d worked for after her climb.
She’d just about fallen asleep when the phone
buzzed in her pocket, making her jump a bit. She grabbed it out of her pocket
and stared at the indicator, then grinned. Quinn. She gestured for it to pick
up, then slipped it back in her pocket as his deep but quick voice filled the
large interior of the cab. “Josie! Just the girl I’ve been wanting to talk to!”
“What a surprise. You called me, Quintrell.
What do you want this time?” She tried and failed to keep a straight face, but
she was reasonably certain she’d kept it out of her voice.
“Naturally, because I wanted to talk to you!
What I want is to get together, and soon.”
“… and? Are you finally asking me out on a
date?” she teased.
“Oh, if only,” he laughed. “No, not a date,
not this time. Maybe next time. This time, like so many before, I’m calling for
a favor. Unlike so many before, this is a favor I’m doing you.”
“Your loss,” she smiled. “What’s this favor
you’re going to do for me?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be looking for work,
would you, Josie?”
She leaned forward on her seat, all attention
firmly on his voice. “Yes! How’d you hear? But yes, I could definitely use the
work.”
“Whoa, whoa, I haven’t even told you what it
is yet. It’s not really your usual deal.”
“Well, stop teasing me then, and spill it.
What’s the job?”
“Nothing you can’t handle, I’m sure. It’s
just … it’s a bit of a desk job. Corporate stuff. Mail room, in fact.”
Her stomach soured a bit at the thought, but
really, running packages around the city was pretty much the same thing, and
it’d be a lot more common in an office. Courier work was rare, the jobs few and
far between when most deliveries were made at the speed of raw data.
“I’m in. Let’s meet tonight, I want details.
You’re the best, Q-ball!”
“Great,” he said with the slightest hint of
sourness in his voice; he’d always hated that nickname. “I’ll send you the
when’n-wheres. Catch you later!”
She sat back with a genuine smile and sense
of relief. Quinn wasn’t the first person she’d have thought of to come through
when she needed work, but he did have a knack for being around at just the
right time.
Fifteen minutes later, the cab dropped her
off at a coffee shop she was fond of; she settled in for a few hours to study
her contact lists and the local news, looking for anything that suggested
opportunity. She was a firm believer in having backup plans.
<>
She took her usual table at the Capital Cappuccino
cafe, their titular beverage in hand. She’d been to just about every coffee
place in the city, including most of the big franchise locations, but Capital
was by far the best, as far as she was concerned. No other place in the region
had Capital’s clean, comforting look and old-school charm.
The front of the store was all glass; not as
much of a benefit in the rain as it usually was, but it afforded her a great
view of the cars sweeping majestically by the windows as they carried their
passengers from one part of the city to the next.
The rest of the walls were very plain; hardly
a decoration in sight, and numerous pipes were visible, painted to match the
wall. The overall impression it gave was of cleanliness, rather than the
spartan feel that other places might have suffered.
The smell of the coffee was strong, but
somehow not overpowering like it was in some places. It greeted you as you
walked in, and settled around you like a warm blanket the longer you stayed.
The real highlight of the place though was
the furniture. It was real, genuine wood, cut and polished with the grain still
visible. The golden shine of the wood counter under the hanging lamps had been
breathtaking the first time she’d seen it years ago, and it never lost its
impact. The chairs were darker, a more reddish brown hue. The tables were
surfaced in a more typical blank white.
She’d hardly ever seen wooden furniture
before setting foot in this place, and took a special joy in sitting in the
wooden seats. It was probably her imagination, but she always felt like the
seat was just a little warmer than it should be, like the tree it’d been cut
from was somehow still alive and warming it just for her.
She’d been seated for less than an hour,
sipping her cappuccino and scanning the news, when Quinn’s details came down
the data tubes to her.
Capital Cappuccino, 3pm.
— Quinn
Easy enough, already here, she wrote back. She glanced at the time; it
was 2:30. That was plenty of time to finish her research, and she didn’t have
to pick up her Gran until 5.
She glanced at the time again. 3:05. Hmmm,
she thought. He’s late again. She was neither surprised nor especially
angry; it wasn’t uncommon for him. She was anxious though.
Wakey wakey, she pinged him. You said 3:00!
Just then he walked through the door,
checking his phone for her message. She rolled her eyes and smiled.
Quinn was a small guy, about average height,
but thin and a little spindly. His blonde hair was pale, though not as pale as
his skin. It was a slightly shaggy mop on his head. His features were thin,
too, but his eyes were laughing as he read her message, and his lips followed
suit, quirking into a lopsided grin. He hadn’t noticed her; he grabbed one of
the small white porcelain mugs and gestured to the server.
That was one of the other things she liked
about the place, she reflected; actual people doing the serving. It was a
novelty; most places were completely automated. She was grateful that at least
the payment mechanisms were automated; you just took what you wanted and it was
verified and charged automatically, no fuss, no muss, just coffee.
Right behind you, she sent just as his espresso was handed
over. He took it and glanced at his phone, then turned and caught her eye with
a grin. He sat himself down.
“Josie! It’s been way too long. Your hair’s
growing out. You going for the longer look?”
Ugh,
she thought. It was going to be this way, then. He never commented on her hair
or anything like that unless he was stalling, trying to drive her crazy.
“Thanks. Thought it was time for a change.
And speaking of changes, what’s the job?”
“Oh Jo, always in such a rush … okay, fine,”
he said with mock melodrama. “Fine, fine. It’s Westall Holdings.”
Her eyes widened a little in recognition.
That was the company Sal’s husband David worked at.
“Don’t get too excited. I know they’re pretty
big around here, but it’s nothing glamorous, like I said. Mail room stuff,
maybe some archives, that sort of thing. And it’s short term, just a few
months. Not huge pay. A buddy of mine knows a guy who works there, he’s lookin’
for bodies to fill the ranks. They got some kind of big project on the go.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s the
catch? You never give up your teasing this quick.”
“No catch, we’re just late to the game. We’ve
gotta hurry if we’re going to get in before the getting’s gone.”
“How much time do we have?”
“Couple of days, tops. Can you be ready to go
see ‘em tomorrow?”
Westall Holdings. She didn’t know much about
them aside from the name, because of David. She could definitely use the cash
though. “Tomorrow? No problem. Got nothing else to do.”
<>
The city spread out below her like a carpet
of lights in the night, mesmerizing in its intensity. In order to avoid light
pollution that would impede the progress of science, some long-gone ruling body
had decreed that lights should be blocked from shining into the sky. The
results were a boon to astronomers, but it was just as lovely from on high.
Jo’s vantage point at the top of an old apartment complex let her look down on
a big swath of the cityscape; from a distance it looked like stained glass.
Even the air felt fresher than usual. Maybe
she’d climbed high enough to rise above the smog, or maybe it was all the rain;
it had just about stopped, but a misty drizzle still made itself felt. Instead
of feeling damp and depressing, she felt somehow more alive.
Maybe that was due more to the interview; she
had shown up with Quinn and talked with a company representative for fifteen
minutes. She’d left feeling buoyed, sure that she’d landed the job.
The line of questioning had started off
standard enough, but as the interview progressed, the rep seemed more and more
interested in her athleticism, especially her climbing hobby. She’d spent the
last five minutes describing past climbs in detail, and she was sure the woman
she’d been talking to had taken more notes during that time than at any other
point in the interview.
How’d yours go?
Quinn. She hadn’t seen him after her
interview. Went well, how was yours? she sent back.
Pretty much what I expected. Very straight
forward, very easy. Do you think you got it?
Yeah, I think so. She paused a moment. Did they happen to
ask you about climbing or anything?
No, just the standard stuff. Why?
No real reason, she just seemed real
interested in my climbing. Guess it’s nothing. She paced the rooftop as she messaged. Her
home lay to the south-west, toward old town. A dark spot in the glowing
stained-glass city caught her eye out beyond where she lived. She was just
thinking it must be the old ironworks when a tiny spark dragged her eyes to
itself; a blue spark, out in the middle of that patch of darkness. She frowned
and tried to image it, though it was hopeless at this distance without a tripod
for the imager. She got about a second of it before it winked out. She felt a
touch of that creepy dread she’d experienced walking out in front of the place
the other day and shivered.
